[Photo via BlackJacks media release.]

The Ottawa BlackJacks of the Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL) named former Carleton Ravens men’s basketball coach Willy Manigat as their director of regional scouting on Feb. 24.

Manigat won three U Sports national championships with the Ravens as a player from 2009 to 2012, and two more as an assistant coach in 2017 and 2019.

In 2019, Manigat was hired as head coach of the Brock University Badgers, a role he will stay in during the collegiate season while assisting the BlackJacks over the summer.

“Ottawa had been my home for the past 26 years until my appointment as the head coach at Brock University,” Manigat said in a press release. “This is an opportunity to stay connected to a community that is a part of who I am, while being a part of a league that I strongly believe in.”

Manigat also served as associate head coach of Canada Topflight Academy, an Ottawa prep school and basketball academy, for three years. He was an assistant coach with the CEBL Niagara River Lions last summer and played professionally from 2012 to 2016.

“Willy is a great coach with a strong work ethic,” BlackJacks head coach Charles Dubé-Brais said in a press release. “Having played professionally in Europe and won championships in U [Sports] as a player and a coach, he understands the reality of our athletes.”

Willy Manigat (centre) as a Raven in 2012, his last year with Carleton. [File photo.]
The BlackJacks already had a strong connection to Carleton in their inaugural season last year. Dave Smart, Carleton’s director of basketball operations and head coach of the men’s basketball team for 21 years, served as the BlackJacks’ general manager before stepping down after the season.

 

Osvaldo Jeanty, who won five national championships with the Ravens as a player in the mid-2000s and later served as an assistant coach, was the BlackJacks’ head coach in 2020 but will not return in 2021.

The Carleton connection extends to the players. Current and former Ravens Lloyd Pandi—who was named 2020 CEBL U Sports Player of the Year—Alain Louis, Munis Tutu, Yasiin Joseph, Jean Emmanuel Pierre-Charles and Tajinder Lall all played with the BlackJacks in 2020.

“Our goal is to grow the game in Ottawa,” said BlackJacks general manager Jevohn Shepherd in a press release. “To do that we need qualified, committed and motivated individuals from within the community. We are excited to have Willy’s experience, knowledge and love for the game on board.”

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